


Five Golden Rings

by ActuallyRandomPerson



Series: Reddie to Call This Love [2]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: But only implied, Christmas, Christmas fic, Established Relationship, Fix-It, Fluff, Gift Fic, I am but a wee baby ace, Kid Fic, M/M, Married Richie Tozier/Eddie Kaspbrak, Pre-Slash, SO MUCH FLUFF, Teenage reddie, adult reddie, also my usual beta is the person this is a gift for lol, although posting it when I am means she might b asleep soooo, and I kinda didn’t want anyone to see it before her, but especially mae, college age reddie, even writing it implied was like ‘ahhhhh??!’, five things, hope u like this, i can’t even write kisses without cutting the scene, implied sexy times once, like 1 line has implied period typical homophobia, love ya, merry christmas/happy holidays y’all, no beta we die like men, pennywise is dead, so Trust Me, so smut is a No, this is just 5000 words of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:40:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21942283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ActuallyRandomPerson/pseuds/ActuallyRandomPerson
Summary: Five Christmases throughout the years.
Relationships: Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh (mentioned), Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Series: Reddie to Call This Love [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1547188
Comments: 14
Kudos: 53





	Five Golden Rings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kitty_Khaos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitty_Khaos/gifts).



> Like, this is an Actual Gift Fic for her not one of those ‘she’s my best friend and reads over all my stuff so I’m dedicating it to her’ things. This is written for the sole intention of being her gift this year, because she’s amazing and I wanted to remind her of that even though I’m not getting her a physical present (kris kringle doesn’t count if I hadn’t gotten u you’d probably b getting a gift from me right now so technically u been robbed of one physical gift- I know that’s not how it works but s t i l l). I wrote this between Christmas prep and birthday celebrations for family members, so I’m kinda shocked it got done in time tbh (it actually got written in three days. seriously. I went from ‘ahh will I have enough time?? Christmas is 8 days away, I want it done by christmas eve, and I won’t be able to write much for the two days before that’ to ‘oh I could probably source an editor for this shit and still post it early’. This is the fastest I’ve written something actually decent in… a while. The christmas spirit flowed thru me and I was naught but its simple vessel.) Some of this probably isn’t like,, plausible in America and if so, sorry and remember I’m an Aussie who doesn’t understand how American school works or how to do Christmas in cold weather, as well as being a gen z and therefore not really knowing how tech worked in the nineties. That being said, I hope y’all enjoy!

**1989**

Despite what one might assume, the Losers’ first Christmas after defeating Pennywise was almost deceptively normal. An uninformed bystander would have had no idea that roughly five months ago, the group of 13-year-olds had almost died in their efforts to save their shithole of a town from an evil shapeshifting clown, and the group themselves were even able to put away their lingering worries and stress for a week or so.

The seven of them, of course, spent Christmas Day apart, and with their families. They hadn’t _wanted_ to do so, but as 13-year-olds they’d had little choice in the matter. As such, most of them considered Christmas that year to have _actually_ fallen on the 16th of December, when they’d gone to Mike’s farm for a sleepover. Stan just thought of it as a fun party where they’d swapped presents for no particular reason.

“Come on Stan, you can still call it Christmas! I don’t believe in Jesus but I’m still happy to celebrate his birth.”

“No- _Richie_ , we know Jesus was a real person! It doesn’t matter if you’re Jewish or Christian or an atheist, you can’t just not believe in a historical figure! There’s just arguments about whether or not he was the son of God.”

Richie stopped, staring at Stan incredulously.

“Wait, so he actually existed? There’s like, evidence of it and shit?”

Stan shrugged.

“I assume so? I haven’t actually looked into it, Rich, as shocking as that may sound.”

The two of them continued walking up to Mike’s house, Richie unusually quiet for the few moments it took to process this new information.

“Weird.” He declared, and Stan snorted before reaching out and ringing the doorbell.

***

“Everyone brought their gift, right? If one of you forgot I’ll kick your ass, seriously.”

Bev had been the one to suggest a Secret Santa that year, and all of the other Losers had agreed readily. Having to save up for buying one present was much simpler than buying one for every member of the group, and meant that no one would feel guilty about not being able to give a gift to everyone. They’d drawn names two weeks before, and Bev had been reminding them to buy the gifts almost every day since then.

“Of course we did, Bev!” Eddie said, rolling his eyes.

“ _Actually_ , Eddie Spaghetti, I forgot to pa-”

“ _Beep beep_ _dickhead_ , you told me you were gonna try and pull that shit two days ago! I’m not a fucking moron.”

Richie would’ve leant forwards and pinched Eddie’s cheek in response to that, cooing that ‘of _course_ he didn’t think his little Eds was a moron’, but a fierce glare from Bev clearly conveyed that now was Not The Time so he stopped himself before it was too late.

“ _Good_. Mike, could you grab the pillowcase we were planning on putting them all in? I didn’t see where you stuck it.”

“Oh, it should be in the middle already! Somewhere under… everything. _Goddammit_.”

“Mikey, I’m _shocked_ by your blasphemy on today of all holy days! Little baby Jesus shouldn’t be hearing that kind of language!”

“Richie, shut the fuck up about Mike and help me look.”

Eddie, true to his word, was searching through the mess of blankets and pillows in the centre of the room for the large pillowcase.

“It was blue, right?” He asked, and Ben’s eyes lit up.

“Oh, I saw it when I came in! I think it’s near where Stan’s sitting.”

Stan looked around confused, before ‘aha!’ing dramatically and tugging the pillowcase out from underneath a blanket.

“This one?” He asked, grinning, and Bev nodded.

“Yup! Now, we’ll probably tell each other who got who afterwards, or guess while we open them, but it’s fun to have an air of mystery about it all, so everyone but Stan should close their eyes and he can put his gift in before passing it off to the right.”

The next few minutes were spent in a semi-awkward silence, punctuated by quiet snickers and the occasional comment when someone was rifling through their bag for a while or forgot where they’d been sitting in the circle when it came to passing on the pillowcase. Once everyone’s gifts were in, they all opened their eyes and Bev reached in to grab out the first gift.

“So, this one’s forrrrr.... Bill!” She passed it off to him, and he eagerly ripped off the paper before beaming around at the circle.

“It’s a new sketchbook! Thanks so much, my old one is full so I haven’t been able to draw properly for the past few weeks!”

The group grinned back for a few moments, before Bev reached into the pillowcase to pull out the next gift. The next fifteen minutes were filled with joyous exclamations and happy smiles as each person opened their gift- Beverly receiving a locket with the space for two small photographs, Mike the next book in a novel series he’d been talking all their ears off about, Stan a new bird finding guide, and Ben a book about architecture. Richie and Eddie ended up going last, with Eddie almost dropping the pack of Polaroid film he’d been given for his camera (“But- it’s so _expensive_ , guys! You didn’t need to-”) and Richie letting out a whoop when he realised he’d received a stack of comics to read through.

“I don’t think I have _any_ of these! Guess I know what I’m doing next time Mr Rosenberg gives us math homework!”

Bev laughed, but Stan reached out to lightly slap the back of Richie’s head.

“You need to do your homework more, idiot! Anyway, do we want to guess who got who?”

Bev nodded, and Richie slung an arm around Eddie.

“No need, I don’t think anyone but Eddie Spaghetti here would know my comic collection well enough to buy me so many new ones.”

Eddie nodded, rolling his eyes.

“And I would’ve guessed that Richie got me, because I don’t think anyone else knows my Polaroid is out of film, but... could we have both actually ended up with each other?”

Richie chuckled.

“Well, it _was_ me that got you, so I guess we must’ve!”

**1992**

“Eds! Eddie! Psst!”

Eddie, who had taken the chance offered to him by his Aunt’s impromptu nap in the living room as her and his mother watched some old Christmas film to disappear to his room for a while, was not sure whether to be shocked or delighted at the sight of his boyfriend peering through his barely open window.

“Richie! What the fuck are you doing here, aren’t your cousins over?”

Richie grinned at him through the glass, before pantomiming dramatic shivers from the cold until Eddie gave in and opened up his window wide enough for him to climb through.

“I’m serious, moron, why are you here?” Eddie hissed, glancing nervously over at his closed door. “You _know_ my Mom will kill me if she catches you in my room!”

Richie laughed.

“It’s fine, Eds, I’ll be quiet! And my Mom said I could leave the house for a while, so _of course_ I decided to visit my adorable boyfriend!”

Eddie flushed bright red at his words. They’d officially gotten together a few months ago now, and although he was still half terrified that his mother would find out and decide to throw him out or bar him from ever seeing Richie again, they had been some of the best months in his life.

Richie’s smile softened at the sight of Eddie’s flush, and leant forwards to plant a gentle kiss on the other teen’s cheek before flopping down onto Eddie’s bed and pulling out a small wrapped gift.

“I, uh, brought you your present.” He added, rather unnecessarily.

The Losers had continued their tradition of holding a Secret Santa that year, despite Bev’s absence, and had even included the girl in the swap by pooling together the money necessary to mail her a gift and have hers mailed back. Even so, Richie and Eddie had decided they would personally swap gifts as well, albeit with a much lower budget than the group’s swap was.

“Oh, yeah! Yours is in my desk.” Eddie said, turning to open his top drawer and grabbing it out.

He’d wrapped Richie’s gift prettily, topping it with a silver ribbon and everything, and he shook his head fondly when he saw the mess that Richie had managed.

“Uh, do you want to open yours first or…”

“You can go, Eds!”

Eddie sat next to Richie on the bed before carefully tugging at the excessive amounts of sticky tape.

“You can open it roughly, you know, rather than being so gentle! It’s not like it’s wrapped well, Eds.”

“Too late!” Eddie declared, pulling off the last of the tape and unfurling the gift.

Sitting on his lap was a small cassette tape, with the word ‘Eds’ written carefully on the label next to a messy love heart.

“I, uh, wrote a list of all the songs on it,” Richie rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “It’s underneath the tape.”

Eddie picked up the tape gently, and skimmed through the included list before placing both the tape and the list on the desk to the side of him before turning to Richie.

“Do you… do you like it?” Richie asked, and Eddie smiled softly at him in response before leaning in to chastely kiss the other’s lips.

When he pulled away, Richie’s cheeks were burning almost as bright as his own.

“Yeah,” He said. “Obviously.”

Richie grinned, before picking up the gift Eddie had wrapped for him.

“Should I open this now?” He asked, and Eddie nodded.

“It’s not as good as your one was.” He said, biting the inside of his cheek nervously.

Richie stopped halfway through opening it to send Eddie a Look.

“I’m sure it’s amazing, Eds, don’t be that hard on yourself! That’s my boyfriend you’re talking about, you know?”

Eddie blushed and shrugged, and Richie returned to opening the gift. Enclosed were two picture frames that Eddie had clearly hand-decorated, one containing a Polaroid of them in the hammock together and the other a close up of Richie kissing Eddie’s cheek.

“I asked Bill to take the hammock one,” Eddie explained, “And obviously you remember taking the other.”

Richie did- it had been done on their first date, after they’d left the movie theatre and headed to the relative privacy of the Barrens, and it had taken Eddie five tries to get the photo to turn out clear enough for him to be happy. Lost in memories for a second, Richie smiled fondly at the two photographs, before placing them down on the bed next to him and pulling Eddie in for a hug.

“I love it, Eds,” He said. “I’ll put them up on my desk as soon as I get home.”

Eddie relaxed into Richie’s hold, content to sit there for the next few minutes. Richie, however, pulled away after a moment, smiling apologetically.

“Sorry, Eds, my back was at a weird angle.”

“That’s fine Rich, mine probably was as well. Do you want to-”

Suddenly, Sonia’s voice rang loudly throughout the house, and both Richie and Eddie froze.

“Eddie bear! Where did you go?”

Richie hardly dared to breathe, and Eddie prayed for a moment that his voice would come out normally when he spoke.

“I thought I’d take a nap, Mommy! To decrease my chances of getting sick from the cold weather!”

“That’s a good idea, Eddie, make sure your window is closed so that your room stays warm! I’ll leave some medicine out for you to take when you finish your nap.”

“Ok, Mommy! I’ll lie down now!”

They both waited for a moment to see if she would say anything further, and when she didn’t make any more noise Eddie breathed a sigh of relief.

“When do you have to be back home?” He asked, and Richie glanced at the clock before biting his lip.

“Mom didn’t set an exact time, but probably in the next half an hour or so.”

“You got anyone else you wanted to visit?”

Richie shook his head.

“Not really, why?”

“Well…” Eddie said shyly, before shifting to straddle Richie’s lap. “If we’re quiet, we’ve got at _least_ that long until my Mom comes to check on me…”

**1995**

It was Christmas, and Eddie was alone.

That in itself wasn’t much of a surprise, as there was no way in _hell_ he would’ve gone back to Derry in order to spend Christmas with his mother, but it didn’t make him feel any less lonely. His two roommates had packed and left as soon as the semester had ended, and Eddie was learning just how _quiet_ the dorm was without them.

Him and Richie had talked over the possibilities of seeing each other on the holidays, about if they thought they could afford to drive to some midpoint between their respective colleges and staying a week or so in a hotel, but their half-made plans fell through pretty quickly. Neither of them could exactly _afford_ it, after all, both with the expenses such a trip would create and the pay cuts from the time away from their respective jobs. They could survive without seeing each other until Summer Break.

So. Eddie was alone.

He picked at the hem of his sweater absentmindedly, having pulled on one he’d stolen from Richie in an attempt to feel, well, _any_ sort of positive emotions. It… hadn’t really helped.

Sighing, he leant back onto the couch. James, one of his roommates, had suggested he sign his name up for the ‘Holiday Lunch’ that another group of freshmen had organised.

“You shouldn’t have to spend your first Christmas here alone, dude, I’m sure you wouldn’t be the only one there that didn’t know anyone else!”

But Eddie had just shrugged and said he’d think about it, knowing full well that he wouldn’t. Sitting in a room full of people that were virtually strangers didn’t sound fun, to be honest, and all of the friends he’d made throughout the semester had been planning on going home for the holiday. The anxiety of having to socialise with people he barely knew far outweighed any potential benefits that company could’ve provided. Plus, he didn’t know when Richie would be calling, and wanted to be available for… whenever that ended up being.

His phone dinged, and Eddie immediately brightened up before digging it out of his pocket. Maybe Richie was alre-

Oh, no. It was just a message from Bill.

**Bbbbill:** merry xmas! dont stay inside ur dorm all day, k?

He dropped his phone on his lap. Bill wouldn’t mind if he didn’t respond immediately, and maybe the delay would convince him that Eddie was actually out and about.

Probably not, though.

Bill was intuitive like that.

He pulled himself off the couch to switch on the radio. Maybe some Christmas music would make him feel better?

Probably not, though.

He sighed again.

Maybe James had been right, after all. Richie was on the opposite side of the country, and had Bev with him. He probably wouldn’t be calling for a good few hours yet, and having an actual _reason_ to leave the dorms might’ve actually prompted him to do so.

His phone dinged again, and he didn’t bother looking at it. It was probably Bill again, or maybe Ben. It could wait.

Maybe he should watch a movie. The music hadn’t seemed to help, but a movie would at least give him something to focus on.

A few moments passed. Another ‘ding’ came from his phone.

And another.

And another.

Maybe he should’ve muted it, but he normally didn’t see the point.

He wasn’t used to getting this many texts in a row.

Well, except for when-

_Richie!_

**< 3:** hey eds! hope ur xmas is goin ok, im still pissed we couldn’t meet up :/

 **< 3: **it’s kinda loud here, idk when i’ll b able to call :((((

 **< 3: **eds? u ignoring me??

 **< 3: **eddie spaghetti! text me back!! im booorreed!!!

 **eddie spaghetti:** rich!! sorry, i didn’t look at my phone

 **eddie spaghetti:** i assumed it was bill or one of the other losers lol, i thought u would b busy

 **< 3: **im shocked! r u sayin u would’ve ignored the other lsers but not me?

 **< 3: **am i… ur favorite?

 **eddie spaghetti:** no its just if i didnt respond 2 u ud just blow up my phone and i didnt wanna deal w it :p

 **eddie spaghetti:** merry xmas btw, love u

 **< 3: **lov u 2 xx

***

Talking to Richie that morning had been nice, but before long he’d had to go. He _did_ have things to finish organising for the Christmas lunch him and Bev were apparently holding, and Eddie couldn’t begrudge him for needing to leave, but it meant Eddie had been alone again. At least he’d set a more definitive time for their call before leaving, as he’d thought things would be calm enough after all the guests had left, at roughly six Eddie’s time. Eddie had asked if that meant he was leaving Bev to clean up the entire mess, and had simply received a ‘;P’ in response.

It was getting close to six now, and Eddie had to stop himself from picking up his phone to check for incoming calls every two seconds. He’d considered switching on another movie, but then he’d have to stop halfway through when Richie called, and it was far easier to sit on the couch instead, pretending to read while anxiously waiting for Richie’s call to come.

Which it would.

Any moment now.

Annny moment.

He checked his watch.

It was eight minutes until six.

 _Surely_ everyone would be gone now, right?

Or at least soon.

Very soon.

Next two minutes soon.

He sighed, and was about to flop sideways on his bed when-

_Brrring, brrring_

Yes!

“Richie!! How are you?

“Hiya, Eds! I’m alright, but I’m a bit tired. Lunch was loud but fun.”

“Of course it was, Rich, you were there! I’m glad you had a good time though.”

Eddie was pressing his phone to his ear like a lifeline, and he was sure Richie was doing the same. He could almost _hear_ the grin Richie was wearing at the sound of his voice, and he knew his was rivalling it in intensity.

“Yeah, it was great. Bev sends her love.”

“Did you end up helping her clean?”

“Of course I did! A little bit. Maybe.”

“Oh my god, I can’t believe she let you leave to call me before you helped.”

“I pouted at her until she did, it was surprisingly effective. Did you get up to much today?”

“Nah, I just watched both Home Alone movies. There’s not many of us left in the dorms, so I kinda just chilled in my room.”

“Fair enough, love. I’m still sorry we couldn’t meet up.”

As Richie said this, Eddie heard a knock on his dorm’s door.

“It’s not your fault, Rich! But can you hold on a minute? Someone’s come to my dorm, so I’ll need to answer the door…”

Eddie _really_ couldn’t think of who it could be. Unless James had taken it upon himself to sign Eddie up for the lunch despite his reservations, and one of the committee members was looking to see why he hadn’t attended? Through the phone, he heard Richie chuckle, and he pulled his other hand out of his pocket to open the door only to find-

“ _Richie_?! What- how- didn’t they need you to train Sarah at work?”

“Is that really the first question that came to your mind?” Richie asked, amused, as Eddie continued to stare at him disbelievingly.

Eddie’s phone clattered to the floor in his shock, and Richie barely had time to shove his own into his pocket before Eddie was pulling him inside for an enthusiastic kiss.

**2014**

“Richie, love, it’s time to wake up”

“Mm, five more minutes.”

Richie rolled onto his side to avoid the light shaking that had first pulled him from his slumber, intending to snuggle into the pool of warmth that was his husband(!!), only to realise he was absent from the bed. He groaned and blearily opened his eyes, only to see Eddie’s face smiling down at him.

“What time issit?”

Eddie laughed.

“About nine am.”

Richie closed his eyes again.

“Too early. Wake me in an hour.”

Eddie rolled his eyes (not that Richie could see) before ruthlessly pulling the comforter off the bed.

“Noooo!!! It’s cooold!”

“Come on, I’ve already brewed you some coffee! We’re meeting the other Losers at Ben and Bev’s in two hours for Christmas lunch, remember?”

Pouting, Richie sat up.

“Will you bring the coffee in here for me?”

Eddie shook his head, fondly exasperated.

“ _Fine,_ but you better not be asleep when I come back in here.”

“I won’t be!” Richie promised, and Eddie turned to leave. “Wait a minute though.”

Eddie turned back to face him again, eyebrow quirked, and Richie reached out to tug him close enough to kiss gently.

“Merry Christmas, husband!” He whispered, exuberant with the giddy rush of joy that the reminder that him and Eddie were married now _(married!)_ filled him with.

Eddie pressed their foreheads together for another moment.

“Merry Christmas to you too, love.”

***

The lunch had been loud and chaotic, as usual, not that Richie or Eddie would’ve had it any other way. Despite the fact that they were all now successful adults with well-paying full-time jobs, the Losers had continued the tradition of holding a Secret Santa, now 25 years strong.

“It’s _tradition!_ ” Richie would insist every year, “It doesn’t matter if we’re all going to buy everyone a gift anyway, I like the mystery and build up!”

So, the Secret Santa stayed, albeit expanding to include various partners through the years and with many of the gifts being sent online or through the post when one or more Losers couldn’t make it to the Christmas lunch. And although he’d never admit it, Eddie secretly agreed with Richie. Christmas wouldn’t be the same without it.

What this meant, however, was that Richie and Eddie usually exchanged their gifts when they got home in the evenings, as the Secret Santa seemed to take longer and longer every year. It also meant they could avoid the gentle ribbing from their friends when their gifts to each other inevitably ended up being stupidly mushy.

They’d left at about six after helping Ben and Bev clean, a task that Eddie made clear every year they would _not_ be skipping, no matter whose house Christmas was held at, and that Richie always agreed to with a slight laugh.

“I’m still not convinced you didn’t fly to my college in our freshman year just to get out of helping Bev clean, honestly.” Eddie remarked as they were driving home.

“Babe, I wasn’t even at the lunch so I wouldn’t have _needed_ to help clean!”

“Well, yeah, but the only reason you _weren’t_ at the lunch was because you were on the plane, so my point still stands- if you’d been there, you would’ve had to clean, and flying to see me meant you didn’t.”

“Couldn’t it have been because I love and appreciate you and, as your caring partner, wanted to see you for Christmas?”

“Sounds fake, but okay.”

The rest of the trip home had continued along a similar vein, with the pair bickering over any and every inane topic under the sun, from whether or not Richie was putting them in danger by trying to drive while holding Eddie’s hand (“You’re gonna make us crash!”) to whether or not Hot Pockets counted as a meal (“Come on, Rich, we’re not college kids anymore,”) and as such they were almost _surprised_ when Richie hit their street. They made it inside the house without much fanfare, and spent about 20 minutes changing into their PJs and dumping all the stuff they’d brought back from Ben and Bev’s before lying on the couch, legs tangled and presents in hand.

“Do you want to go first, or should I?”

Richie thought for a second, before knocking Eddie’s hip with his foot.

“You go.”

Eddie tugged open the gift Richie has handed him to start off (which had _clearly_ been wrapped through one of those department store fundraisers, there was no way in hell Richie had gotten it this neat) and laughed when he saw it contained an old-fashioned Walkman and a mixtape with the words ‘Eddie Tozier!!’ written on the front.

“I see we had similar thoughts,” He said, and giggled when Richie shot him a confused look. “Open yours, seriously!”

Richie did, and grinned when he saw it was a scrapbook filled with photos.

“I’m glad to know I’m not the only person who decided to be a sappy shit this year,” He remarked, before flipping open the cover. “Although I do have to say, you win the sappiness prizes given this is an entire album filled with pictures of us. When did you even _make_ this?”

“I’ve been working on it for most of the year,” Eddie admitted. “Collecting and printing photographs from all my old cameras, and piecing it together when you’ve been at gigs. Bev helped me out a bit.”

“I forgot some of these pics _existed!_ Are those- are those the blurry versions of our first date photo? You _kept_ those?”

Eddie flushed when he saw that Richie had indeed stopped on the page that contained the four failed attempts of their first selfie. Richie didn’t seem inclined to flip past it for the moment, instead reading through the short note Eddie had written about how ‘Going on a date with this dipshit was the worst decision he’d made in his life but he wouldn’t change it for the world’, and he snorted before looking back up at Eddie.

“It’s so _weird_ to think about how hard it was to get that photo, to be honest. Like- nowadays it would be a single click of the button and you’d be done, whereas you had to deal with me being a shit and holding the camera backwards all while stressing out about not wasting too much film.”

“I like that _that’s_ what you chose to focus on about that page, love.” Eddie remarked, and Richie grinned at him before resuming flipping through the scrapbook.

“Oh, we both know I’m the love of your life, darling,” Richie responded. “Nothing new there!”

“Well, obviously. There’s a reason that there’s about eight separate pages dedicated to our wedding towards the end of that thing, and it’s not for shits and giggles.”

Richie lit up like a goddamn Christmas tree, and flipped to the back of the book so fast that Eddie would’ve been worried about a page ripping if he hadn’t chosen an especially durable brand for this exact reason. It was obvious when he reached the relevant section, as he immediately softened and stilled, and Eddie knew without looking that he was staring at the large print out of them kissing at the end of the aisle. He knew, because he had a similar reaction every time he saw it. The two remained silent for another moment more, and when Richie did speak his voice was slightly choked up.

“Eddie, I love you so fucking much, you know that, right?”

“Yeah, Rich. I love you too.”

**2016**

“Daddy! Papa! Iss Chrissmas!!”

Richie groaned and tightened his arms around Eddie. He loved Ellie, he really did, but at times like this he mostly wanted _sleep_.

Eddie, as usual, was dead to the world. They’d stayed up late last night, curled up in front of the fireplace under a shared blanket and with warm cups of cocoa in their hands. The year had gone by in a whirlwind, starting off with the news that their application to adopt Ellie had _finally_ gone through before being filled with a flurry of last-minute preparations and activity as they prepared to officially welcome the toddler into their lives.

Ellie had been quiet at first, unsure of what to make of her new home and filled with concerns that Richie and Eddie would leave her like her birth mother had. But they’d slowly worked to build up her trust in them, and before long they’d had an excitable toddler running through their home at all hours.

Speaking of which…

“Come _onnn_ Papa! Wake up!”

Richie groaned again before reaching up to rub at his eyes. Ellie, seeing he was now awake, clambered up onto the bed before reaching out and poking Eddie’s arm to try and wake _him_ up.

“Ellie, love, can you grab me my glasses? I think I left them on Daddy’s nightstand last night instead of my own.”

After a year of waking up with a toddler in the house, Richie had gotten pretty good at pretending to function well in the mornings.

“Here you go, Papa!” Ellie said brightly, attempting to shove the glasses on to Richie’s face.

“Woah, careful there, Ellie! Wouldn’t want to blind me, would ya?”

Ellie giggled.

“You _alweady_ blind, Papa! Thas why you need glasses!”

Richie grinned at her in response.

“True that, you clever thing. Now, do you want me to help you wake Daddy up?”

Ellie nodded eagerly.

“Then we can open pwesents!!”

Richie gasped theatrically.

“Presents? _Really_? Did Santa visit?”

“Mhmm! I saw! Under the twee!!”

“You must’ve been a _very_ good girl this year then!”

“The bestest! Now wake up Daddy?”

***

Fifteen minutes later, Richie found himself standing in the kitchen nursing a cup of coffee as Eddie prepared them all croissants for breakfast and Ellie swung her legs from her seat on the benchtop.

“You want ham and cheese right, love?”

“Yeah, thanks Eds.”

They had initially been planning on opening presents _before_ breakfast, but that had changed when Ellie’s stomach had loudly growled. She’d been awake a lot earlier than usual due to her excitement about Christmas, hence her hunger, but she’d pouted at both of them when she realised they weren’t going to be opening presents immediately. Next to him, Eddie finished placing the croissants in the oven before looping his arms around his husband’s waist.

“The croissants will take about fifteen minutes to get ready.” He leant his head against Richie’s shoulder as he said this, and Richie dropped a kiss onto the top of his head.

Ellie pouted again.

“But thas so _looong_!” She whined, and Richie smiled softly at her.

“Tell you what, I think fifteen minutes is the _perfect_ amount of time to open up one round of presents! Do you want to go find the one we wrapped for Daddy?”

Ellie brightened up.

“The one wif the snowman paper?” She asked, and Richie nodded.

“Me and Daddy will join you in the living room in a minute.” He said, and she grinned and held her arms out to be let down from the bench.

Once she was on the ground, she raced off into the living room, and Richie watched her go before turning to find Eddie watching him fondly.

“You’ll spoil her, you know?”

Richie grinned back at him.

“She deserves a little bit of spoiling, don’t you think?”

Eddie stepped forwards to wrap his arms around Richie again.

“Yeah, she does.”

***

Ellie, who had impatiently come back to the kitchen after deciding that Richie and Eddie were taking too long to join her in the living room, was cross in the way that only toddlers could be when she saw that the reason they hadn’t come out was because they had been kissing.

“Come _onnnn,_ I want pwesent _nowwww_!” She whined, pouting up at them until Eddie picked her up and planted a kiss on her forehead.

“We’re coming, we’re coming!” He said, shifting her onto his hip, before sending another grin Richie’s way.

“So, lil rascal, what do you want to open? A gift from me and Papa or a gift from Santa?”

Her eyes grew narrow as she thought about it for the few moments it took them to reach the tree, before brightening again as she came to a decision.

“You an Papa!” She said, toothy grin at full force.

“Alright, love!”

Richie smiled softly at her as Eddie placed her on the couch and pointed out the present he thought they should give her to open first.

When they passed it to her, she grinned excitedly at the wrapping.

“Daddy! Papa! Waindeers!”

Eddie somehow smiled wider than he had been already, and almost missed Richie asking if she wanted him to help her open it gently in amongst the simple joy he got from watching his family interact.

“No Papa, the waindeers are magic so they be ok if I rip them!”

“Oh, of course! Silly me.”

Richie shrugged and pulled a face at Eddie when Ellie’s focus shifted back to the present in her arms, bemused by this latest display of toddler logic.

Ellie looked up at Eddie for guidance this time.

“Can I open yet?” She asked, and Eddie pulled his phone out of his pocket in preparation to film the event.

“Of course, darling!” He said, and she grinned before brutally ripping into the paper. When the present was revealed, she gasped.

“Doggy! Whas his name?”

“We thought _you_ could name him, love!”

Richie responded, and Ellie stopped clutching the teddy to her chest for long enough to look at him and declare “Timothy!” before hugging him again.

“So you like him, Ellie?” Eddie asked.

“Yes yes yes!! He is best doggie!” She responded, before grinning up at him and the phone he was still holding in his hands.

“Thank you Daddy! Thank you Papa!”

At this point, the oven alarm went off, and Eddie leant down and dropped a kiss onto the top of her head before getting up off of the couch. He loved his family so much.

**Author's Note:**

> not to get too sappy but mae I love u so much, you’re the best friend I could ever ask for. I don’t even know where I’d be mentally if I hadn’t met you, you’ve helped me more than you know and I will beat up everyone who’s ever said anything against you because seriously I just ahhhhhhhh. you have all my uwu’s. this next years gonna be a stressful mess bc year 12?? should b illegal??? but like… knowing that when im stressed or down I can message/see u and do/watch stupid shit like Jekyll Jekyll Hyde and just,,, spend time w u in general is iconic and I wouldn’t change that for the world. Ok sappiness over time for me to beg for likes and comments from everyone other than Mae because external validation is the elixir I live off of nowadays. I hope everyone enjoyed this fluffy mess and has a good Christmas(/happy holidays in general for those who don’t celebrate christmas)! Once again, shameless promo of the IT discord which you can find [here,](https://discord.gg/FAfgQhj) we have a lot of fun on there so I recommend checking us out! Also, Ellie is the best girl and if people like her enough I might write more of her. I would’ve already but I wrote that one first and knew that if I went on I wouldn’t get to any of the other sections sksbhf


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